Celebrating My Home Town: a biography of sorts
by David Cope (b. 1948)
Contact: [email protected] or [email protected] Home phone: 616 531 1442 Address: 2782 Dixie Ave. S. W. Grandville, Mi. 49418
Early in my career as a poet, I decided that I would remain in Grand Rapids and write about the lives of ordinary people in my city and state, rather than migrating to New York, Boulder, or San Francisco as so many other budding young poets have done. I saw that our city and state have a unique history and culture worthy of celebration, and my work has accordingly celebrated our people and their struggles, triumphs and despairs.
I was fortunate to begin my study with Lucy DeLoof at GRJC, where I was editor-in-chief of Display Magazine; later, I studied with the great Robert Hayden at the University of Michigan, and when I returned to Grand Rapids, I won first prize in the adult category of the Dyer-Ives Poetry Contest in both 1971 and 1972. Although that period was one of continuing study, I went on to found my Nada Press and Big Scream magazine, now in its 49th issue; the magazine has been in continuous publication since 1974. In 1978, my “Crash” was published in The Pushcart Prize II: Best of the Small Presses, and selections of my work appeared in City Lights Journal #4 and in New Directions Anthology #37, as well as in numerous small press magazines and anthologies. I also began teaching and giving readings in the summer sessions at the famed Naropa Institute (now University) in Boulder, Colorado. This pattern culminated in my first book, Quiet Lives (Humana, 1983), which included a foreword by Allen Ginsberg. My second book, On the Bridge (Humana, 1986), was selected by James Dickey, Irving Howe, and Ginsberg for the annual Literature Award from the American Academy/Institute of Arts and Letters.
During the 80s and 90s, I traveled to Detroit, Ann Arbor, Rochester, Manhattan and Brooklyn, New Brunswick and elsewhere, reading my work and participating in poetry convocations. I was regularly published in small press and in anthologies, and continued publishing my books with Humana until my publisher, dying, returned the rights for all six books to me. I was also fortunate to do readings, interviews, and lectures at Brooklyn College, St. Lawrence University, Wayne State University and elsewhere. In 1991, I began teaching full time at Grand Rapids Community College, where I was soon advising student editors for the same Display where I had worked as a student. I also organized student poetry readings, and persuaded the college to bring poets ranging from Allen Ginsberg to Anne Waldman to read and meet with the students. When our Diversity Center brought Yevtushenko to the college, I read with him in the afternoon session, and I also worked with that office to develop and put on the week-long Pablo Neruda celebration and the three-weeklong Women in the Arts Celebration. I judged the Calvin College “Good Groceries” poetry contest, the Aquinas College poetry contest, as well as the Jewel Heart Contest in Ann Arbor. Eventually, I was selected to judge the annual Kent District Libraries teen poetry contest (which I have done for 5 years now), and I have served as program coordinator for the Kent County Dyer-Ives Poetry Contest for the past two years.
I am a strong candidate for the role of poet laureate, having long experience of working with the press and with public figures. My work writing for the Plensa Exhibit at Meijer Gardens demonstrates that I can compose high quality poetry when given a prompt. I’ve stayed by my city because I believe our people, places, and history are worthy of celebration, and I am particularly pleased that I might, for a time, serve as poet laureate. I already have two projects in mind: editing an anthology of the best poets from the Grand Rapids area, and hosting a conference for high school and college age student poets selected by their professors and teachers. David Cope: Works and Publications
*Starred manuscripts and/or books and related materials are on file as "David Cope Papers" in archive at the Special Collections Library, The University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, MI. Substantial collections of issues of Big Scream are also available at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Library, and at the New York Public Library.
Awards:
American Academy and Institute of Arts & Letters Award in Literature, 1988. [for On the Bridge, 1986. Selected by Allen Ginsberg, James Dickey, and Irving Howe]
Poetry Books:
Early Poems. 88 pages, unpubl.
Quiet Lives. Foreword by Allen Ginsberg. Totowa, New Jersey: Humana, 1983. 88 pages.*
On The Bridge. Totowa, New Jersey: Humana, 1986. 88 pages.*
Fragments from The Stars. Totowa, New Jersey: Humana, 1990. 119 pages.*
Coming Home. Totowa, New Jersey: Humana, 1993. 119 pages.*
Silences for Love. Totowa, New Jersey: Humana, 1998. 119 pages. *
Turn the Wheel. Totowa, New Jersey: Humana, 2003. 88 pages.*
Masks of Six Decades: poems 2003-2010. Grandville: Nada, 2010. 40 pages.*
Moonlight Rose in Blue: the selected poems of David Cope, 1974-2010. unpubl. 1974- 2009. 88 pages.
Correspondence:
Selected Letters 1992-1999. with index of correspondents and notes. unpubl. 139 pages*
The Signing Space: Interview and Letters. with Jim Cohn. unpubl. 153 pages.*
Canon Debate: Multiculturalism & The Canon. with Edward Jayne III. (1996) unpubl. 97 pages.*
Canon Debate II: Inclusion & Materialism. with Edward Jayne III. (1997-98) unpubl. 166 pages.* Canon Debate III: Skepticism, Syntactic Risk, and The Impeachment Hearings. with Edward Jayne III. (1998-99). unpubl. 152+ pages (in progress).
New Letters: 1997-present. unpubl. 162+ pages (in progress).
Academic and Literary Essays:
The Blue Notebook: Early Autobiographical and Literary Essays. unpubl. 81 pages.*
Book One: Dante & Chaucer. unpubl. 175 pages.
Book Two: Shakespeare & His Contemporaries. unpubl. 352 pages.
Book Three: Paradiso X: "L'Amor che l'uno e l'altro etternalmente spira." unpubl. 114 pages.*
Book Four: Julius Caesar: The Political Text in Performance. unpubl. 83 pages.
Book Five: Multiculturalism & The Canon. unpubl. 161 pages.
Book Six: Miscellaneous Essays, Mostly Medieval. unpubl. 92 pages.
Renaissance Drama Plot Outlines. unpubl. 89 pages.
Ghost Dances: The Prose Writings of David Cope. unpubl. 154 pages.
As Editor:
Big Scream. poetry journal, 48 issues publ. Grand Rapids: Nada, 1974-2009 (ongoing).*
The Roaring Girl, or Moll Cutpurse. by Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker. with introduction. Grand Rapids: Grand Rapids Community College, 1996. 77 pages.*
Nada Poems. anthology of poets Grand Rapids: Nada, 1998. 128 pages.*
A Poet's Sourcebook. anthology of poems. Second ed. Grand Rapids: Grand Rapids Community College, 1997, 2004. 219 pages.*
Sunflowers & Locomotives: Songs for Allen. in memoriam Allen Ginsberg. Grand Rapids: Nada, 1997. 58 pages.* Demotic Fire: The Postbeat Poets. Ed. Jim Cohn and David Cope. 24 poets in postbeat tradition, with biographies and acknowledgements. 239 pages. 2008-09. Unpublished as of this compilation.
Publication, Anthologies:
“Crash.” The Pushcart Prize II: Best of the Small Presses. . Ed. Bill Henderson. Avon, 1978.
Selection of poems. City Lights Journal #4. Ed. Mendez Monsanto. City Lights, 1978.
Selection of poems incl. in Ginsberg’s Choice.. New Directions Anthology #37. Ed. J. Laughlin, with Peter Glassgold and Frederick R. Martin. New Directions, 1978.
Selection of poems. Friction 5/6: Obscure Genius Issue. Ed. Allen Ginsberg and Randy Roark. Laocoon, 1984.
“Congratulations.” Best Minds: Festschrift for Allen Ginsberg. Ed. Bill Morgan and Bob Rosenthal. New York: Lospecchio, 1986).
“The Declaration of Interdependence.” Disembodied Poetics: Annals of the Jack Kerouac School. Ed. Anne Waldman and Andrew Schelling. U of New Mexico Press, 1994. (Cope was principal author, with 32 contributors).
“Sirens & Flashing Lights Stop.” Poems for the Nation (anthology ed. Allen Ginsberg, Andy Clausen, Eliot Katz. New York: Seven Stories, 2000).
“Tender Petals for Calm Crossing.” Van Gogh’s Ear: Poetry for the New Millennium 2.1. Ed. Ian Ayres. Paris/New York: French Connection/Committee on Poetry, 2003.
“Labor Day.” Visiting Walt: Poems Inspired by the Life and Work of Walt Whitman. Ed. Sheila Coghill and Thom Tammaro. Iowa City: Iowa U P, 2003.
“Crash.” Poems to Live By in Troubling Times Ed. Joan Murray. Boston: Beacon P, 2006).
Selection of poems. Sins and Felonies. Ed. G. F. Korreck. Grand Rapids: Barbaric Yawp P, 2007.
Selection of poems. Fresh Grass. Ed. Roseanne Ritzema. Rockford: Presa, 2009.
“Sirens & Flashing Lights Stop.” Working Words: The Literature of Work, Class & Art. Ed. M. L. Liebler. Coffee House, 2010. Small Press Publication (1975-2010):
Blind Alley, In The Light, Windows in The Stone; Delirium; The World; Roof, Bombay Gin; New Blood; Ferro Botanica; Wonderland; Voices; The Grand Rapids Press; Long Shot; Action; Pay Up Dead Beat; Ahnoi; Planet Detroit; La Voz; The New York Quarterly; WFMU 91.1 FM (New Jersey); Poetry Flash; Lactuca; LSA (University of Michigan); The Underground Forest; We; Big Fireproof Box; Big Hammer; Black Swan Review; The Grand Rapids College Review; Napalm Health Spa; Lame Duck; The St. Mark's Poetry Project Newsletter; The Michigan Council of Teachers of English (November 1985); Vajradhatu Sun; Headcheck Number Four; Heaven Bone; WSLU (Canton, New York); Indefinite Space; Big Fish; Shambala Sun; The Cafe Review; The Wayne Literary Review; The Ann Arbor Poetry Forum; The Brooklyn Review, Hazmat, Bill Freeman's Magazine; Louisiana Review; The Paper 4.22 (Jan 25-31, 2001); The Woodstock Journal “October Surprise” online issue; Rattapallax; The Chiron Review, Presa 1 and 2; The Grand Rapids Press (“A Well- Versed Man,” by Beth Loechler, with Cope’s poem “The Rhododendron,” J1, 9 April 2006); prose memento celebrating Allen Ginsberg, “Allen in Memory,” published in The Paterson Literary Review 35, Paterson, New Jersey; The Litribune; Wildflowers: a Woodstock mountain poetry anthology; “A Memento for Diane,” published in Big Bridge 14 (ed. Michael Rothenberg): Features: Diane di Prima: a Retrospective Collection of Essays, ed. David Hadbawnik, and in The Paterson Literary Review; “Congratulations” published in Mind Breaths (Allen Ginsberg Festschrift) and later in Beat Scene (Cambridge, U. K.). .
Selected Lectures and Readings (*audiotape in David Cope Papers, UM archive):
1980: “On the Poetry of Charles Reznikoff and Marsden Hartley,” and reading my poetry with Andy Clausen and others. Naropa Institute, Boulder, Co.
1982 Reading with Jack Micheline and Peter Orlovsky, Jack Kerouac Conference, Naropa Institute, Boulder., Co.
1983. Reading with Andy Clausen and Antler, introduced by Allen Ginsberg. 67 th Street YMCA. New York City, March 15.
1984. Solo reading. Lines Series, Detroit Institute of Art. 3-18-1984.*
1987: “The Poetry of Carl Rakosi.”* Objectivist Conference, Naropa Institute, Boulder, Co. Evening reading with Carl Rakosi.*
1988. Reading with Allen Ginsberg, Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, Mi. Two audiotapes.*
1990. “Rested Poetics.” Ecopoetics Conference, Naropa Institute, Boulder, Co. Reading with Antler, Jeff Poniewaz, and Greg Keeler. 1992. Reading with Anne Waldman and Jim Cohn, Grand Rapids Community College, Grand Rapids, Mi.
1994. “On the Later Poetry of Allen Ginsberg,” Beats & Rebel Angels Conference, Naropa Institute, Boulder, Co. Reading with Galway Kinnell, Sharon Olds, and Ed Sanders.
1997. “Black English Vernacular, Creolization, and 'Market' English." GRCC Diversity Conference. Grand Rapids, Michigan.
1998. "Slave Rebellions in Life and Literature." GRCC Diversity Conference. Grand Rapids, Michigan.
1998. Reading of my poems. Michigan Poetry Conference (with Richard Tillinghast, Diane Wakoski, Michael Heffernan, and Thomas Lynch). Northern Michigan College, Petoskey, Mi.
2002. Poetry and Buddhism panel chair, and reading of my poems. Anne Waldman Conference, The University of Michigan Special Collections Library, Ann Arbor, Mi.
2003. David Cope: A Poet’s Journey, 1968-2003. Retrospective Exhibit at Grand Rapids Community College Library, October 30-November 14. Poetry reading and reception, October 30.
2004. “Translating ‘Que Despierte El Leñador.’” The Pablo Neruda Centennial Celebration, sponsored by the Diversity Center. Grand Rapids Community College Library. Grand Rapids, Mi.
Websites:
David Cope Papers. Special Collections Library. The University of Michigan. http://mirlyn.lib.umich.edu/Record/000803213
David Cope Homepage. The Museum of American Poetics http://www.poetspath.com/exhibits/cope/
The Shakespeare Project. (curator) Course materials for Cope's Shakespeare classes. http://www.grcc.edu/shakespeare/
"Fran" and other poems. The Pier. Bob Rixon's online zine. http://thepier.homestead.com/files/David_Cope.html
"October Surprise: An Absurd Reverie." The Woodstock Journal October Surprise Project. http://www.woodstockjournal.com/pdf/october-surprise.pdf (now defunct)
Poems in Napalm Health Spa (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 ff) David Cope Homepage (scroll to bottom and click): http://www.poetspath.com/Dave_Cope/
"Shakespeare in Love course notes." LehrerInnen Fortbildung-Baden-Wurttemberg. http://www.lehrerfortbildung-bw.de/faecher/englisch/bs/dvd/unterricht/bearbeitung.htm
"Shakespeare in Love course notes." .Steven Marx Homepage. http://cla.calpoly.edu/~smarx/Shakespeare/Shak_inLove/SILCope.html
Three essays on renaissance drama. Essays and Articles in Early 17th Century Literature (search under Jonson, Dekker, or Middleton): http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/sevenessay.htm
“A Memento for Diane.” Big Bridge 14 (Features: Diane di Prima: a Retrospective Collection of Essays, ed. David Hadbawnik). http://www.bigbridge.org/BB14/2010_diprima/DiPrimaTOC.HTM
“David Cope.” Thru the 3rd Eye. (website operated by Rod Torreson’s student poets. This page includes three poems, interview, and essay). http://throughthe3rdeye.com/node/322
Dave Cope’s Laureate Tasks 2011-2014
Summer 2011
1. June: The Museum of American Poetics publishes Allen Ginsberg’s letters to me (1975-1990) and republishes Becky Spaulding’s laureate interview with me for the GRCC Collegiate newspaper. See: https://www.poetspath.com/napalm/nhs11/index.html
2. June 15: Allen Ginsberg Project article, “David Cope—Letters from Allen Ginsberg” published online, with notice of laureate position. See: http://ginsbergblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/david-cope-letters-from-allen- ginsberg.html
3. June 16: meeting with GRCC Dean Laurie Chesley. Information on the Poetry Conference; she will also recommend three hours release time for work on my laureate projects.
4. June 30: completed initial contact list for Poetry Conference (GR area college connections, KISD and parochial high school connections, Media Contacts, Libraries, Bookstores, Cafés).
5. July 5: receipt of Paterson Literary Review with my essay “A Memento for Diane [di Prima]” and two poems.
6. July 10-22: composition and multiple revisions of “The City in Agony,” poem exploring the horrors of mass murder/extreme domestic violence in Grand Rapids.
7. July 11: interview by Kendall Pektas for Grand Rapids Magazine, at the Arts Council. To be published in October.
8. July 17: receipt of a huge trove of 1972-1980 letters and manuscripts sent to my friend and former college roommate, Gary Schmidt and his wife Lin, on July 15 at my 45th class reunion. These form an important missing link in my correspondence and 50+ poems I lost during one of the most productive periods of my writing career. I catalogued these for my UM archive on the 17th.
9. July 21: Through the 3rd Eye laureate/craft interview with Rachel McGinness. http://throughthe3rdeye.com/
10. July 28, 3:45 p.m. at Rosa Parks Circle. Reading for “Milk for Thought and the Big Pink Bus” in support of breastfeeding and other healthy parenting habits.
11. Curated The Beats exhibit for GRCC English Department display case, selecting books, anthologies, films, and CDs for display, writing captions, and arranging exhibit. 12. August 11: Reading at Downtown Schuler Books, between 5:30-6:30, with Katherine Marty.
13. August 1-15: letters sent out to initial group of local poets, asking for input on poetry conference setup, as well as manuscripts, bio, etc. for GR Poets Anthology.
14. August 28: finished editing Big Scream 50 (my litmag, 72 pages). Script is ready for layout and design; to be published for national distribution, January 2012.
Fall 2011
15. September 15: Professors Poetry Panel, Literary Life Bookstore, 7:00-8:30, with Keith Taylor (UM) and former poet laureate Patricia Clark (GVSU).
16. GR Poets’ Conference: MCACA grant writing through the month of September; conferring with GRCC grants folk and with Angela De Luca Placencia (Sept 15); Venues for April 2-5, 2012 tentatively secured at GRCC for Poets’ Conference; met with Heath Chelesvig at GRCC to design performance evaluation sheets for conference (MCACA requirement); began talks with Provost and Dean re 1: 1 support of conference per MCACA requirement. Designed template letters of support to be sent to numerous organizations, asking for help in promotion, etc.; established advisory group of professors at GRCC (the third such: the Arts Council Committee is my first group; the 12 poets who will perform and facilitate panels is the second).
17. Wednesday, September 21: Meeting with Dean Chesley and grants folk to locate GRCC funds in support of the Grand Rapids poets’ conference:
18. Song of the Owashtanong: Grand Rapids Poetry in the 21st century, the poetry anthology I developed, is now ¾ complete at 158 pages, including text by 12 poets, brief bios, and acknowledgements for prior publication. When the anthology is complete, I will begin searching for a publisher or, failing that, a grant for the book.
19. The University of Buffalo Library of Poetry contacted me, wishing to purchase a nearly complete set of the 49 extant issues of my Big Scream magazine, and to establish a subscription for future issues. This is an important archive, associated with the influential Electronic Poetry Center (http://epc.buffalo.edu/ ); it will complement already-extant collections at the University of Michigan Special Collections Library and in Periodicals at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
20. October 3, 2011. MCACA Grant due for GR Poets’ Conference at GRCC. 21. October 8, 2011. Reading at WYCE radio with local performance poet Smith Pettis. 22. October 10, 2011. One of a panel of “distinguished judges” chosen by Mayor Heartwell to select top 6 phrases in MyGR6 Contest. 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Skunkworks Conference Room at GRid Building.
23. October 18: MyGR6 breakfast buffet announcing winners.
24. October: Grand Rapids Magazine feature article on me as laureate.
25. October 21, 2011. Dinner with GVSU President Haas and his wife, with poets Terrance Hayes and former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser. Prior to the poets’ reading at Grand Valley’s annual Poets’ Night.
26. Several of my poems and short essays are being translated into Chinese by Professor Zhang Ziqing, of the Institute of Foreign Literature at Nanjing University. My work will appear in publications in China in the near future. This is, incidentally, a long-delayed Chinese response to Allen Ginsberg’s teaching trip to China in 1984, when he read my poems as examples of American excellence to students there.
27. November 4: meeting with Arts Council committee to begin determining the future of the laureate position now that the Arts Council is going defunct.
28. November 4: Reading on behalf of the Literacy Council of West Michigan at Billy’s Lounge, arranged by GRCC creative writing club, The Jules.
Winter 2012
29. Continued work on the Grand Rapids Poets’ Conference
30. Continued work on Song of the Owashtanong: Grand Rapids Poetry in the 21st Century. <3 January: Anthology completely finished (192 pages, intro, contents, text, brief bios and pub credits). Script emailed to poets as first proof copy, with request for their corrections. Poets have emailed or otherwise sent their changes via snail mail up to January 20. <5 January: began discussions with Scott Baisden re layout and design. <13 January: email exchange with Jennifer Holberg (laureate committee member) re grant and word of library as new home; email to Caroline Older to begin discussion of grant. <23 January: Meeting with Caroline Older (Arts Council executive) to get a grant for publication of the anthology. <23 January: sent email to poet-publisher Eric Greinke re help with copyright issues and distribution via the anthology. <24 January-February 2: wrote and submitted grant request for funds to publish the anthology. 31. Transfer of the Laureate program from the Arts Council to the Grand Rapids Public Library. <24 January-February 2: wrote and submitted grant request to the folding Arts Council for funds to publish the Song of the Owashtanong, the second of my two major projects during my term as laureate (see above). This will allow me to complete my named projects without impacting whatever budget the library will have for the laureate’s projects and stipend. <7 February: meeting with GRPL archivist Chris Byron, exploring what the library can and cannot do in this new role. Areas of importance: clarifying what I’ve done to ease their budget concerns, the need to seek a large fund base from donors or other organizations to provide for the future of the program after I’ve completed my term, and questions re imprint for the anthology. <15 February: meeting with GRPL Archivist Tim Gleisner, exploring what kinds of events or literary series the library could create for poets, continuing discussion on the need to learn what the library foundation can and cannot do re laureate future, etc. 32. Publication of landmark 50th issue of my indie poetry magazine, Big Scream. 33. Work on The David Cope Papers at the University of Michigan Special Collections Library. <19 January: email to UM SCL archivist Peggy Daub, updating her on progress with my projects here in Grand Rapids—with request for archive visit sometime in May and possible visit for cataloguing materials. <18 February: creation of list of materials to be included for archive visit. Email to UM SCL archivist with list as attachment, requesting possible visit during GRCC March mid-winter break or perhaps later in semester. <8 March 2012: meeting with archivist Peggy Daub, delivering correspondence (Oct 2011-March 2012), manuscripts and manuscript collections, editing materials, poet laureate papers and notes (May 2011-March 2012), Big Scream 50 manuscripts, correspondence and editing materials, audio CD of reading at WYCE promoting benefit reading for Literacy Council, Teaching notebooks, and gift books and serials. 34. Preliminary work for GRCC honor graduate, my former student, and winner of the Bakeless Prize for memoir Carmen Bugan’s local book launch. 35. February 20: Nomination of Eliot Katz’s poem “Taking Inventory September 2010,” published in my Big Scream 49 (Winter 2011), for a Pushcart Prize, a volume published annually and featuring the “best of the small presses.” This is an honor for both the poet and the publisher. 36. March 16: accepted as performer at the Grand Rapids Art Museum / Rauschenberg exhibit readings. 37. March 19: my poem “American Pewter with Burroughs II,” based on the Rauschenberg collage, accepted for publication in upcoming edition of The Newark Review, published at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Summer and Fall 2012 38. Disposition of Laureate Funds / Providing for the future of the program at the Grand Rapids Public Library 39. Frank Salamone Memorial Performances 40. Continued Efforts to publish Song of the Owashtanong: Grand Rapids Poetry in the 21st Century 41. May-July: “Blues for Frank” published by Napalm Health Spa, Presa, and Big Hammer; “American Pewter with Burroughs II: Green is a Man / To Fill is a Boy,” poem written for Rauschenberg Exhibit at GRAM, published by Newark Review and Napalm Health Spa; “The Price of Liberty” review of Carmen Bugan’s Burying the Typewriter and “Student and Master Change Places” memento of my friendship with Carmen, published at The Rapidian; three poems submitted to Poetry in Michigan/Michigan in Poetry anthology to be published by New Issues Poetry and Prose. 42. Late summer: my poem written in response to Robert Rauschenberg's collage, “American Pewter with Burroughs II,” published in the Newark Review: http://web.njit.edu/~newrev/3.0//d-cope.html . Poem was also published at Napalm Health Spa, along with “Blues for Frank” and Thru the 3rd Eye Interview: http://www.poetspath.com/napalm/nhs12/ 43. Reading with Jack Ridl at Schuler’s Downtown, 13 September 2012. My reading was video-recorded by my student Mike Zone, who edited the performance and delivered a DVD: this will be archived at UM, and the video is now uploaded on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiz4NFj9xMs&feature=youtu.be 44. 14 September: “Blues for Frank” republished in Squalorly, local online litmag edited by former students and former GVSU students: http://www.squalorly.com/contents 45. 18 September: "On Poetry and Music and Growing Up in Grand Rapids," craft interview posted both at Through the 3rd Eye and on my own sampler page at the Museum of American Poetics: At Through the 3rd Eye: http://www.throughthe3rdeye.com/node/947 At my sampler page at the Museum of American Poetics (scroll down on left sidebar to “Interview” and click on the second entry): http://www.poetspath.com/Dave_Cope/ 46. 19 October: with my wife Sue, guest of Mrs. Marcia Haas at special supper and poetry reading (Nikky Finney and B. H. Fairchild) at Grand Valley State University’s annual Poetry Night. 47. 24 October: “Blues for Frank” published in Big Hammer, New Jersey’s premier American postmodern proletkult literary magazine. 48. 26 October: performed my poem “River Rouge” as part of poets reading poems responding to the Real/Surreal exhibit curated by the Whitney Museum and hosted by the Grand Rapids Art Museum. This poem was written in response to Charles Sheeler’s painting of the same name. 49. 26 October: “River Rouge” and .jpg electronic copy of the Sheeler painting to be published in the upcoming “long poems” issue of Napalm Health Spa. 50. 29 November: per request of my Chinese editor Zhang Ziqing, I located jpg. of group portrait of Antler, Andy Clausen and me (plus several other poets and spouses) in Allen Ginsberg’s kitchen (photo taken by Allen Ginsberg in 1983 or 1984). My son-in-law Scott Baisden worked on the photo to bring it into greater focus, and I sent it on to Mr. Zhang. He was delighted with it, and it will grace the chapter on our postbeat group in his forthcoming history of 20th Century American Literature, to be published in Chinese for poets and scholars of that nation. The volume will contain seven of my poems translated and analyzed in Chinese. 51. 8 December: performance of my poem “Until Love is Equal” as Youtube Public Service Announcement for LGBTQ activists who are initially shooting 10 of these announcements for public distribution. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=_ji2yg1Jqzw&feature=youtu.be 52. Carmen Bugan appearance at GRCC: <1 June: Library confirmation for reading and booksigning 20 September 7:00-9:00. <1 June: Video confirmation for lecture/discussion recording 20 September 2:30-4:30 Sneden 108 and for evening reading/booksigning at GRCC Library. <1 June: Bookstore request sent for 75 copies of Burying the Typewriter and 25 copies of Crossing the Carpathians. <1 June-5 June: with help from Kim Wyngarden and Carmen, I assisted Nan Schichtel in compilation of a bibliography of Eastern European poetry, to be posted online at the library site during Carmen’s visit. <16 August: completed a 14 page study guide for Burying the Typewriter, to be used by my English 247 and 102 students, and shared with the English Department so that others might benefit. Emailed this guide out to Carmen so that she could suggest editing changes, if needed. <27 August: poster for Carmen’s event approved and printed. <1-19 September: final arrangements for Carmen’s appearance, including making sure books came in, recording is ready, maintenance prep completed for events, dinner arranged at Heritage Restaurant, and press release, story on GRCC homepage, helping radio interviewer connect with Carmen, etc. <20 September: Carmen’s lecture and reading went off without a hitch; SAS provided funds for her family’s dinner at the Heritage; Media filmed her performances and they are available on Youtube for interested students and scholars: afternoon lecture: 108 Sneden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGX4BhBhcb4 evening reading and booksigning: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=xOybyitj7E0&feature=relmfu 53. UM Special Collections Library “David Cope Papers” archive project. 30 July-August 1: archive visit to Buhr Library for sorting donations from 2002-2012 for final cataloguing and for uploading to finding aid for David Cope Papers at Special Collections Library. Student researchers under the direction of chief archivist Kathleen Dow will complete this work, likely in the fall semester. 2013 (Winter to Fall) 54. 3 January 2013: New Issues Poetry and Prose accepted “the dharma at last” for publication in Michigan in Poetry / Poetry in Michigan anthology to be published in September, 2013. 55. February, 2013: publication of Big Scream 51, indie poetry magazine I have edited and published since 1974. 56. 16 February 2013: poetry and art workshop at Meijer Gardens in conjunction with Hanneke Beaumont exhibit. 57. 24 March 2013: reading in the “Poetry and Pints” series at New Harmony Brewing Company, hosted by Michael Sikkema. 58. 5 April 2013: Formal Anthology Book Launch at Grand Rapids Public Library Auditorium. 16 poets, introduced by Detroit poetry impresario M. L. Liebler. 59. July 18: poetry reading at the Bookbeat, Oak Park, Michigan, with Andy Clausen and Rod Torreson. 60. July 26: convened new laureate committee to choose my replacement as poet laureate. 61. July 29: Completed editing 40th anniversary issue (#52) of my Big Scream poetry magazine, to be published in January, 2014. 62. August 7, 9: my book Moonlight Rose in Blue submitted to Copper Canyon Press and to the Green Rose Prize at New Issues Press. This book is the product of six years of editing and revision. 63. September 29: “Dave Cope and Friends” reading scheduled with Kent District Library. 64. September: Poetry in Michigan / Michigan in Poetry anthology of Michigan poets to be published by New Issues Press, including my poem “the dharma at last.” 65. October 23 or 24: My lecture and reading, “Poetry Saved My Life,” to be presented at Who Cares? Why Bother? Writing Conference at GRCC. 66. November 24: second reading scheduled at Kent District Library. 67n. Search for grants for the program: more to come through May 2014.